


histories

by pentagrammed



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, and other supernatural creatures, pretty much lining up with canon except magical creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:27:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6900415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentagrammed/pseuds/pentagrammed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neil Josten accepts Wymack's offer to join the Foxes. But where will the runaway werewolf son of a murderer fit in on this team of (mostly) supernatural players, each with their own demons following them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	histories

It seemed like Stefan heard his mother’s whisper before her voice actually came out of her mouth – his hearing was so finely tuned and he had, over time, become more and more attentive to her. It was a survival method more than anything, because listening to his mother and hearing her even when she spoke in barely a breath was necessary to save their lives.

“Stefan,” she breathed out again, hand on her stomach. The blood was pooling out of her in a way that almost surprised Stefan, had he not been accustomed to the goriest and bloodiest sights since he was young. His body was marked up with scars aged back to when he was three and up. Even after they’d escaped his father, he wasn’t safe. They were tracked down frequently, especially in their most vulnerable times in the month. Blood wasn’t anything new to Stefan.

Neither was death, but watching the life fade from his mother was a new thing anyways. Stefan felt the bile rising in the back of his throat and swallowed it back down. His mother would hit him if she had the strength, but she didn’t and instead he faced the disappointing pout of her lips before they opened in a wordless, pained gasp.

“Mom,” he choked out, watching her. They were far away from anyone else, both civilians and friends of his father, but he kept his ears open while he kept his eyes on her. She may be dying, but to waste the freedom she’d given him, the life she’d spent 7 years sheltering and protecting.

Mary Hatford Wesnicki closed her eyes. Stefan heard her heartbeat stop and found himself mostly grateful that the moon was between phases – if it had been a full moon, he may not have been able to handle the emotion that was streaking through his body. He may have even howled and led his father’s men right to him.

Instead, he bit down on the hurt he was feeling and reached into the seat behind him, pulling the duffel bag of his clothes out. After a moment of hesitation, Stefan pulled his mother’s to him as well, digging through her ratty clothes for the papers she kept there. There were certificates for money that Mary had showed him how to access, as well as wads of cash held together by rubber bands. He paused and took another look at his mother’s body before stuffing them into his duffel bag, beneath his clothes. Then he took one last piece of paper, filled completely with meaningless numbers that his mother had explained. He doubted he would ever call Uncle Stuart, but the ability to do so would have comforted his mother slightly, God bless her soul.

There were fake IDs and passports, forged birth certificates and doctor’s papers for him as well, so he collected those and shifted through the identities before he found one he liked. The rest went into the duffel bag as well, and he held the chosen one up and examined it.

“Neil Josten,” he told his mother’s corpse. “My name is Neil Josten. I was born on March 31st. I’m 18 years old. My mother is… my mother is an engineer.”

He repeated his story until even he couldn’t hear the lie, the uptick in his heartbeat that any supernatural creature would pick up on. If he could fool himself, he could fool anyone. The light blonde hair would have to go, and the hazel contacts he was wearing. Since his father had caught up to them with their most recent disguises, he would recognize this version of his son. Neil needed to look different – but that would come later.

First, he realized, he would need gasoline.

 

* * *

 

Coach Hernandez was a blessing in the disguise of a high school Exy coach, Neil realized very quickly. The man somehow understood the amount of discretion that Neil needed from him and the students around him – not only for the fact that Neil slept in the Dingos’ locker room, but the discretion of Neil’s status. When Neil filled out the papers to join the team, there was only a quick flick of Hernandez’s eyes over Neil when he read what Neil had written.

_Human with potential inhuman ancestry._

Anyone trained to look for the signs could mark Neil as a werewolf immediately, and it was one of those classes that was unmistakeable. Even if Neil had had a grandparent of an unknown species, he would still be full werewolf. Any teacher, any coach, would know right away that Neil was the farthest thing from human.

Coach Hernandez only nodded gruffly at him and filed the page away. Neil sighed softly.

Exy teams were open to all species – they had to be, as one of the creators wasn’t human – but nonhuman players, depending on their strengths and risks, had different rules and guidelines. Werewolves couldn’t play games around the full moon, so many were scheduled away from it. Sirens couldn’t speak to their opponents. Any creature with enhanced strength or speed was monitored to make sure they didn’t play too roughly. Sometimes, high school teams had rules on handicapping supernatural players to make the game fair and protect human students.

College Exy and Court were different because they encouraged the supernatural players to go their hardest. There were many human players on college teams but they trained extra hard or used enhancements (magical or hormonal, depending on the player). Playing for a university was less human friendly but the humans who made it to them most definitely earned their places.

Neil didn’t think about that though, because he was on a high school team, playing with other minors in a tamer and less dangerous form of the game. By registering as a possibly enhanced human he meant to fit in easily with the established team. Part of him knew that Coach had likely asked the team to look the other way when Neil performed a little too well on the court, and since they didn’t have to officially disclose his status to anyone but _his_ team, Neil flew under the radar. No one said anything about how Neil disappeared immediately after games on the full moon, though his team and coach noticed his absence. If he had registered as a wolf, their games would have been scheduled around the full moons, but instead he suffered through the effects of the night.

Coach Hernandez was a great guy in that respect. He knew Neil needed to stay on the down low, though he didn’t know why, and he respected that. In return, Neil respected him. Up until their last game, of course, when he found himself utterly betrayed by the coach and facing a complete stranger in the locker room.

“I’m not playing with you,” Neil said, heart beating like a mouse’s. He could hear the other men in the room’s heartbeats as well, both calmer than his even as Coach Hernandez looked increasingly worried. But Hernandez had sent his file to Coach Wymack, and Neil didn’t have time to worry about the man. He was running through exit plans in his head, the fight or flight response raising his adrenaline. Had Hernandez told Wymack that Neil had lied about being human? If he hadn’t, Neil had the upper hand. He could escape far more easily. Wymack was human, he knew, so he could outrun him.

He shifted his duffel bag up higher on his shoulder, a move that didn’t go unnoticed by the coaches. And then Wymack said it.

“Kevin’s signing you.”

There was no need for him to say anymore, because Neil had already gleaned the important information from that sentence. Kevin Day knew who he was, where he was, what he was, everything about him. That was all it took for Neil to take off, feet like rockets under him as he relied on his supernatural speed to escape.

He took a quick sniff of the air, to see if there was anyone else around, and didn’t smell anything as he picked up speed. Wymack had come alone, which was surprising, but Neil was actually quite grateful-

Until the stick flung out into his chest.

“God damn it, Minyard. This is why we can’t have nice things.” Coach Wymack said in a tone that sounded bored even to Neil, whose ears were ringing.

Ah.

When he could finally look up, he knew what he would see. Andrew Minyard, who was recognizable by his small stature, blonde hair, and the ever present smile on his face that revealed his sharp fangs. He had been quiet until Wymack spoke to him, and when he talked his mouth widened to show his teeth even more. Neil knew him by sight, and he knew just how dangerous this man was. Not only was he a ball of anger at a constant point of flying off the handle and towards murder, he had gotten the upper hand on Neil and Neil hated people who could do that.

Unfortunately, vampires had no smell and could be completely noiseless when they tried. Neil had never known he was there. That was a problem.

Wymack and Hernandez were right behind him and Neil had to take a few moments to catch his breath and to get his head to stop spinning. Andrew had put his full strength into the blow, and the racquet, despite being high school Exy equipment, was still heavy. He held his stomach for an extra second as he got to his feet, eying the three other men carefully.

Hernandez was at least slightly sympathetic, but certainly half of his cover was blown. They all knew now that he wasn’t human because he had withstood the power behind Andrew’s hit. From here on Neil chose his words carefully.

“I’m fine. Coach, I’m leaving. Let me go.”

The middle sentence was directed towards Hernandez because Neil would adamantly not call Wymack his coach. But the permission he was asking for was really Wymack, who was here wasting his time on a terrified, runaway, werewolf son of an assassin.

“We’re not done,” Wymack said. Then he dismissed Coach Hernandez and Neil felt his heart sink a little, losing his only ally in the room. Briefly, he wondered if Andrew could hear his heartbeat, since the vampire was certain to have hearing as good as Neil’s. He’d only met a few vampires in his life, a few when he lived with his father, a couple more from his time on the run with his mother, but he didn’t know that much about them.

Wymack redirected his attention back to the contract with a few more questions and complaints but when Neil realized that Wymack had brought Kevin to Millport with him. His heart started racing faster and it wasn’t until Kevin spoke behind him that the gravity of it all set in for him.

Kevin Day was here with him. For all of the power he had in his body, supernatural organs and abilities, he found himself unable to breathe again. It was like Andrew had hit him with the racquet all over again but instead of pain he was filled with panic.

Kevin Day was standing in front of him, the stark black 2 standing out on his cheekbone. Even if Neil didn’t know his face so well, if he hadn’t spent every free second of his time checking up on him in the news and following Kevin’s career, Neil would know him. He still had the eyes of the ten year old boy Neil had met long before.

He sniffed the air again and tried to work out how he had not noticed Kevin – between recovering from Andrew’s blow and arguing with Wymack he hadn’t thought to check for anyone else. But that wasn’t the only thing, because Kevin didn’t have much of a smell to him anymore. It certainly wasn’t the one Neil had held onto from the past, and was so overpowered by Andrew’s scent of nothingness that it would be easy for any supernatural being to miss him. Neil scowled.

Kevin was human, or mostly human. He was one of those with magical enhancements – all legal, of course. At least, the ones that were known about were all legal. Kevin could play better than most of the supernatural players anyways, before his hand was broken on a ski trip. None of the enhancements he had had been able to save him. They mostly affected his strength, stamina, and speed on the court.

Neil considered Kevin the worst part of this nightmare because with him came Riko, and with Riko came Tetsuji, and Neil’s father followed closely after. Kevin was Riko’s pet and even if he’d run away, Neil wasn’t safe from Riko when he was so close to Kevin. But within a few moments of staring at him Neil realized that Kevin didn’t recognize him. There was a good chance Kevin wouldn’t remember him anyways, after eight years and only having seen Neil once. Add in hair dye and colored contacts and Neil began to breathe a little lighter.

“What are you doing here?” Neil asked.

“Why were you leaving?” The striker countered. Behind him, Andrew was snickering but Neil tuned him and Wymack out to focus on what Kevin knew – or thought he knew – about Neil.

“I asked you first,” he responded petulantly and the two of them began a pointed conversation. Neil tapped his foot anxiously, ready to be done with them. Once they were gone, he could leave Millport and never be found by people who were connected to his father again. But what Kevin said next caught his interest.

“You play like you have everything to lose.”

With that sentence was the information that Hernandez had sent them a tape, which meant there was no way they didn’t know he was a werewolf. If they had seen him in action, it would be obvious – even Hernandez knew, though he bit his tongue. He wondered quickly how the Foxes would accommodate his condition, then pushed the thought very far out of his head.

Wymack cut in again, saying something about the confidentiality, but Neil was back in his head. He didn’t have any plans now that he was finished high school. A college team would be the only way he could keep playing Exy – but he couldn’t risk it. Could he?

Neil’s fingers twitched at his side.

“Well?” Wymack asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Neil hastily mentioned his mother but it was a last effort attempt at stopping himself and it wasn’t working. His real mother would be pissed, while his imaginary engineer workaholic mother who was always on business trips, well, she wouldn’t mind. Then Coach Wymack dismissed Andrew and Kevin from the room, which Neil was surprised by.

“You need one of us to talk to your parents?” Wymack asked.

“I’m fine.”

“What about your Alpha?”

Neil sighed. Wymack had pegged his identity – at least, that aspect of it, anyways. That would be a weirder thing to explain than his parents.

“No Alpha,” he said shortly. “Only my parents and I.”

“Are they the ones who hurt you?” Wymack’s question turned the conversation in the opposite direction, and Neil paused. Then Wymack explained his theory about how Neil was exactly his type of player. Neil didn’t know if he should feel upset that they’d assumed so much or if it was worse that they were right. The offer to stay with Wymack and practice with Kevin and the other Foxes in the summer was appealing. He didn’t have a real place to stay, and his name wouldn’t get out until August. Riko wouldn’t recognize him. He could cover his tracks in the supernatural world as well. Neil Josten was an accidental turn whose Alpha hadn’t claimed him and wouldn’t.

His brain was whirring as he built the world up in his head, a half future for himself where he didn’t have to give up Exy just yet.

Finally, Wymack asked again: “Are your parents going to be a problem?”

Neil took the opportunity that was in front of him and nodded. Hernandez had probably implied it to him before Wymack came to meet Neil, which played right into the Coach’s type: second chancers with bad histories.

“Your graduation ceremony is May eleventh, according to your coach. We’ll have someone pick you up from Upstate Regional Airport Friday the twelfth,” Wymack finished.

The door closed on Neil in that moment. This was it, this was final. He was a wolf becoming a Fox in a world where he was being hunted. This could be the end of his life, though he realized he wouldn’t mind playing Exy for a college team before he went. Even a team as shitty as the Palmetto State Foxes. They would do.

**Author's Note:**

> DID YOU LIKE THIS FIC? Support me by buying me a Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/X8X8E1WK
> 
> So this started from an idea I had regarding mythological creatures (http://foxvvixen.tumblr.com/post/144492649832/mythology-au) and escalated. I don't normally post unfinished work but I'm hoping that by posting this piece by piece it encourages me to actually finish it lol
> 
> Anyways, come talk foxes with me at foxvvixen on tumblr! Especially if you want to ask who is what creature in this universe and why I decided them as such!
> 
> Also, I'm kind of changing around some of the ways the thoughts cross Neil's head and reactions compared to what they are in canon - just cause I don't want to be essentially copying the book. And as this is a wip I'll definitely run back and change things in every chapter.


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